Toxic trade: why junk electronics should be big business

$21 billion in precious metals are used each year, and most of it is lost.

The global manufacturing of electric and electronic devices requires a total of $21 billion in gold and silver every year, yet less than 15 percent of these valuable metals are recovered from electronic waste, according to representatives at the UN-backed initiative, Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP).

At current rates of production, $16 billion (or 320 tons) in gold and $5 billion (7500 tons) in silver are put into media tablets, smartphones, computers, and other devices annually. With growth in demand for smartphones and media tablets showing little sign of diminishing in the next few years, the flow of gold and silver from deposit to waste facilities is only likely to accelerate.

The result is that, collectively, refuse sites are effectively sitting on precious and valuable metal "deposits" worth billions of dollars. StEP points to the steady and extremely rapid growth in the price of gold in the decade up to 2011—from $300/ounce to $1500/ounce—despite a 15 percent increase in supply in that period. The values of silver, copper, tin, and to a lesser extent palladium (all used in the manufacture of electronics devices), are also markedly higher today than 10 years ago. Hence, e-waste itself is an ever more valuable, and therefore tradable, commodity.

Increasingly, e-waste is exported from developed to developing nations, particularly in Asia and Africa, where the cost of processing it is lower. But the efficiency of that processing is lower in those locations. StEP claims that, in developing nations, 50 percent of the gold in e-waste is lost due to "crude dismantling processes" and only 25 percent of the remainder is recoverable due to the rudimentary technology to hand. In contrast, 25 percent of gold is lost to electronics dismantling in developed nations, and modern facilities are able to recover 95 percent of the rest.

The Executive Secretary of StEP, Dr. Ruediger Kuehr, has slammed the state of e-waste management as "short sighted and wasteful of natural resources," claiming that the accumulation of rare, valuable metals in waste facilities threatens the future supply of electronic goods—not only consumer gadgets, but also electric car batteries and solar panels.

But there's also the human cost of e-waste management to consider. The crude recovery methods used at developing world recycling facilities expose unskilled workers, who are often children, to a host of toxic materials and contaminants also used in the manufacture of electronics.

The health and environmental hazards linked to crude e-waste recycling practices are well documented. For example, the widely-reported practice of burning cables and printed wiring boards to recover the metals they contain is known to release polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and furans (PCDDs and PCDFs) that can be toxic in even small doses. The combustion can also lead to the release of dust and fumes from the beryllium present. Inhalation can cause the incurable pulmonary disease berylliosis, the symptoms of which can in some cases begin to appear years after the last exposure.

In recognition of such health concerns, steps have been taken to curb the export of e-waste in both the United States and Europe. However, the 112th Congress's H.R. 2284: Responsible Electronics Recycling Act appears to have stalled. Though the European Union has banned e-waste exports since the mid-1990s, the trade has continued under the guise of exportation for reuse rather than recycling—a perfectly valid loophole were it not used as a front, which, unfortunately, it is.

A 2009 report (PDF) by Interpol entitled Electronic Waste and Organized Crime describes "an industry in which unscrupulous operators are able to profit from disposing of waste cheaply and illegally abroad instead of taking the environmentally responsible but more expensive option," by deliberately mislabeling containers of e-waste, or mixing waste with legitimate exports such as vehicles bound for the scrapyard. A new change in the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive will require EU countries to collect 45 tonnes of e-waste for every 100 tonnes they produce by 2016.

The illegality of e-waste exports, from Europe at least, makes the practice very difficult to quantify. "The European picture remains unclear. Who? Why? What? When? Where? How? Are questions that should be posed—but can't be answered when it comes to the illegal export of waste," concludes a report (PDF) by the EU's Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law. However, it goes so far as to assert that the "vast majority" of the 10 million tonnes of e-waste generated annually in the EU is illegally shipped to developing countries.

The picture from the USA isn't much clearer, though it has been widely reported that 90 percent of the USA's e-waste ends up in either China or Nigeria—a figure that appears to originate from an estimate made by Jim Puckett, Director of the Basel Action Network. The Network is a charity that campaigns for the ban of waste trade, which is restricted by the Basel Convention (which the USA is yet to ratify despite signing in 1990).

Though the scale of the problem may be difficult to assess, given the rising use and rising price of valuable materials, it's a problem that is unlikely to disappear of its own volition. The trade in e-waste is inextricably linked to the value of e-waste. And though copper is increasingly considered as an alternative to gold where reliability is not a concern, gold is still prized for its combination of conductivity, ductility, and resistance to corrosion. Its use in electronics does not appear to be under threat, and neither does that of silver: a better conductor, though less ductile than gold.

StEP's Dr. Kuehr calls for the recovery of rare materials from e-waste, and in doing so, he is effectively calling for an end to the e-waste trade as it currently stands, since the recovery of such materials necessitates high-tech methods that developing countries lack. Regardless, such nations are in desperate need of proper e-waste recycling facilities of their own, not merely to cope with the e-waste imported to date, but to be ready for the fallout from the rocketing domestic demand for consumer electronics.

Though in Europe a straightforward ban on e-waste exports has proven far from sufficient to curb illegal trade, it has at least provided a platform for further legislation that may prove more effective in time. It's a start, in other words.

James Holloway
James is a contributing science writer. He's a graduate of the Open University, with a B.Sc. in Technology and a Diploma in Design and Innovation. Twitter@jamesholloway

Some possible discussion points for solutions:1. Free market- $21 Billion/ year in recoverable precious metals. Why then are companies not recovering them? e-waste recycling regulation too expensive for businesses? New materials cheaper?2. Environmental regulations- Environmental law requiring x% of new electronics be from proven recycled materials. 3. Put all the waste in the World in abandoned open pit mines around the World, cover trash, and nuke the trash. Poof, instant recycled materials. Of course, most of it would be radioactive for ~10,000 to 1M years.

I've always gotten the impression that waste management in North America is just not that efficient in general - as a person I don't see that waste is effectively sorted and recycled.

For a long time, the populace believed that the ocean and the lands around where they lived were "vast, empty places to throw your garbage in". Unfortunately, the reality is that these things will come back full circle to bite you in the rear. After all, the planet is round and not infinite, so stuff you throw out to the east will eventually make its way back from the west (figuratively speaking)

I think it's that resources were too abundant and cheap for anyone to give a damn about. If these hi-tech gadgets were expensive as all hell, there would be a very lucrative market for recovery of the materials. However, that's not the case, as "cheap methods" for recovery tend to be even more polluting and some cases illegal.

I've always gotten the impression that waste management in North America is just not that efficient in general - as a person I don't see that waste is effectively sorted and recycled.

You're absolutely right.Why can't restaurants, businesses, and small businesses sort recyclables like Whole Food Markets and many European restaurants?Some homes have decent recycling programs, but how much is really recycled?

Yeah, and their's a trillion dollars worth of gold in the ocean, it just might take two trillion dollars to extract it. The key is concentration of the material, and linked to that, the cost of extraction.

An iPad might have a higher gold concentration than gold bearing ore or sea water, but it also contains a crap-load of other things no government is going to allow you to dump into a pile when you are done siphoning off the gold.

The question is, does it cost less to extract these metals than they are worth? The answer seems to be: yes, if you extract them with cheap labour and make a mess of the environment; no, if you do it in a high tech, clean way. Otherwise western companies would probably be dealing with this waste and making a good profit.

That doesn't mean it's not possible though - we just need to find more efficient ways of doing it that are also clean. If the legislation improves to compel the US and Europe to deal with their own e-waste, that could present a great opportunity for entrepreneurs. I'm not holding my breath on the US doing that though.

edit: I got distracted while writing this, and several commenters above already made these points. Oh well.

Mining dumps and land fills will be a new business of the future. I imagine how many tons of metals, materials, and precious metals can be recovered from these places. To me it is really inconceivable. If I was a billionaire I would figure out some way to leverage this idea and start to it NOW. The potential profits to me are huge.

Someday the revenue from recycling will influence the market. Until then, the true price of products will continue to be manipulated by politicians and corporations. Mainly because we let them.

Why does soda cost $1.85 average for a 2L? The real price (manufacturing & distribution) of that soda is WAY less than that. We keep buying their overpriced and crappy products and they keep raising prices.

Part of the problem is that natural resources costs nearly nothing to the company to get rights to acquire the resources. If the companies had to pay "market price" for natural resources, recycled materials would be more competitive. Instead, politicians around the World sell out their Countrymen for Pennies on the Canadian Dollar.

I work for a company here in San Diego (ecoATM) that is in this business - we buy used cell phones, MP3 players & tablets from folks and recycle them - and we're making money. This type of business is the future.

The question is, does it cost less to extract these metals than they are worth? The answer seems to be: yes, if you extract them with cheap labour and make a mess of the environment; no, if you do it in a high tech, clean way. Otherwise western companies would probably be dealing with this waste and making a good profit.

That doesn't mean it's not possible though - we just need to find more efficient ways of doing it that are also clean. If the legislation improves to compel the US and Europe to deal with their own e-waste, that could present a great opportunity for entrepreneurs. I'm not holding my breath on the US doing that though.

edit: I got distracted while writing this, and several commenters above already made these points. Oh well.

Not necessarily. It could be, and according to BigOldHarry already is, an area where a high tech company could be profitable but there are barriers to entry that have to be dealt with. I'd assume the processing is going to involve and produce a variety of toxic chemicals which in the US means dealing with major permitting, environmental regulations, NIMBY issues and acquiring a reliable source of e-waste. Once you get through all that you are still at the mercy of the precious metal values and your ability to actually maintain a steady supply of e-waste. When your competition is cheap labor in a third world country being unfairly pushed out of the market is a real possibility. Just look at what china has done when it comes to mining rare earth metals.

Mining dumps and land fills will be a new business of the future. I imagine how many tons of metals, materials, and precious metals can be recovered from these places. To me it is really inconceivable. If I was a billionaire I would figure out some way to leverage this idea and start to it NOW. The potential profits to me are huge.

It's only a matter of time. I don't know if the economics have turned yet, but mining landfills from before recycling caught on is certainly going to pay. They are loaded with metals, at much higher levels than mines, much closer to the surface. Older landfills may also be past the point of any biohazard issues.

I currently work for an extremely rapidly growing and successful sustainable solutions company in Dallas focused on the proper disposal of e-waste. Scrap metal tonnage does indeed make money, but the sale of refurbished and repaired electronics is where the revenue has potential to become explosive. We can barely handle the amounts of thrown away or returned phones that usually just require a simple LCD or digitizer replacement or firmware flash and sell for a very enticing fraction of retail. Scrapped goods are all dealt with according to ISO 14000 and all current US E-waste disposal regulations. We ship raw materials or silicon boards to be melted down here in the US for precious metal extraction. The fact that e-waste is big business is no secret to entrepreneurs. The smart ones will get on board.

.....given the rising use and rising price of valuable materials, it's a problem that is unlikely to disappear of its own volition. The trade in e-waste is inextricably linked to the value of e-waste.

Inversely linked to my mind. If the material gets more valuable, it makes less sense to export it to for lossy recovery. To put it another way, the cost advantage in sending it abroad to be cheaply recovered erodes and perhaps becomes negative as the value of the wasted material increases while the costs remain static.

Well, if Apple's iPad and iPhone are any indication, soon we will all have to let sophiscated recyclers recycle the valuable amount of metals contained in iPads and iPhones because they can't be disassembled in third world countries, thanks to copious amounts of glue and proprietary screws. So really, we would ironically have to thank Apple for making recycling a profitable business by having everything hard to disassemble, so that only modern recyclers w/ proper tools can recycle it.

Even though a lot of precious metals are used, their amount used per device is tiny. To get a decent amount of any metal, you have to melt millions of chips, and silicon has a very high melting point, then do electrolysis. Mining is a lot cheaper in most cases. And the bulk of the material is silicon, which as the major constituent of sand is very, very abundant. The penalty for not recycling should be built into the device, but then most prices of electronic devices would increase.

One of my favorite citations is from The April 2008 green issue of PC Magazine, which said, "A pile of our obsolete computers could make a 22-story mountain that covers the entire 472 square miles of the city of Los Angeles." I suspect the mountain's a little taller and wider by now.

E-waste actually refers to the materials that are left over after the commodities have been removed.

Most articles in the media get this wrong.

Edit - It's also worth noting that the current boom in e-recyclables is based on high commodity prices. Should commodity prices return to their long term averages, many of the recovery processes will go back to being unprofitable.

I've always gotten the impression that waste management in North America is just not that efficient in general - as a person I don't see that waste is effectively sorted and recycled.

You're absolutely right.Why can't restaurants, businesses, and small businesses sort recyclables like Whole Food Markets and many European restaurants?Some homes have decent recycling programs, but how much is really recycled?

I think the key here is to ensure that there's industrial-scale recycling at the waste processing plant. Maybe it's cheaper to sort some of the stuff at home, but ideally, the waste processing plant will find a way to sort it all before it hits the landfill. Easier said than done, but I had a German friend constantly harp on how Canada's recycling program is crap and that in Germany they sort the garbage (and the recyclables) for you.

Edit - It's also worth noting that the current boom in e-recyclables is based on high commodity prices. Should commodity prices return to their long term averages, many of the recovery processes will go back to being unprofitable.

If we keep needing more, and if the planet is not growing, why should prices of commodities return to their long term averages, when we used less and there were more available?

Edit - It's also worth noting that the current boom in e-recyclables is based on high commodity prices. Should commodity prices return to their long term averages, many of the recovery processes will go back to being unprofitable.

If we keep needing more, and if the planet is not growing, why should prices of commodities return to their long term averages, when we used less and there were more available?

The reason that things like gold have increased in price is due to the world recession, when things eventually get back to normal one would expect the price of certain things like gold to go back to pre crisis levels or just a little bit over..

Most of the problem is ease of getting the products to a recycling center. I live in a area where I have no real solution to take electronics for recycling. Its not as profitable as the article states. Their is transportation costs, disassembly costs and finding a market for the recycled material. In Illinois their is very few recycling centers that actually take electronics. They take everything else but electronics.Our garbage company won't take electronics either. That makes me think that electronics is certainly not profitable to deal with. We have a organization that comes around twice a year to collect locally. They too will not take certain electronics. Although their is certainly recycled material in electronics. Their is a lot of material that is not and its even hazardous.

I am personally very disappointed at the way e-waste is being handled in the building I work in Switzerland (I can only assume this happens elsewhere too but I cannot generalize). Once a year there is an e-waste collection event, where boxes get set at the basement for everyone in the building to dispose of their broken/useless electronics.

I feel particularly sad and disgusted when in these boxes I find otherwise perfectly operational equipment that has been thrown away simply because the time has come for the businesses to buy the "next last gen. thing". We are talking about core quads and 22" widescreens, and the latest iMacs of last year.

And you know, it wouldn't sadden me so much, if they did not throw them in there like worthless pieces of garbage, rendering them inoperable purely by the action of "disposing for recycling"... LOL. Because at least then I might still entertain the thought that some poor chap somewhere down the line could be given one of these still operational thousand dollar machines of yesterday and make a difference with it, use it because its operational rather than because its the latest in tech.

Oh, BTW, good luck with that OLPC project.. LOL. Of course, the show must go on, because that's what it is.. a f*cking show.

I've started disassembling my old electronics myself; I have some boxes in my basement where I sort the stuff and when the volume gets to the right place for a particular component, it'll go up on eBay to someone who has the equipment to do the PM recovery.

Power supplies have lots of copper bits; the whole computer is littered with aluminum. If you are dealing in enough volume, you can make some money on the steel too [I just toss it in my recycling bin].

By my math, I figure that it is overall roughly equivalent to a minimum wage job, at best, but one that you can do watching TV, so I like that Most of it is finding a source of free/very cheap electronics.

That all said, if you can get an old Core2Duo up and running, it is probably worth 10-20x as much as a working computer than as scrap-- so in most cases, refurbish first, scrap second.

"And you know, it wouldn't sadden me so much, if they did not throw them in there like worthless pieces of garbage"

My previous company [a Silicon Valley tech company], sold old machines for a fairly nominal fee-- and there was no competition for them. When they replaced my work machine I had the option of buying the old one for $25 [which I figure they counted as their "cost" for wiping and re-imaging the hard drive].

The one I bought I didn't have a use for, but at my mom's company [a very small business] where even though it was a couple of years old, it was still an upgrade for them, and you can't beat that price

I **wish** my current company would do anything like that. They just pile up the old machines and hand them over to 'Waste Management'. They think they are getting a good deal because Waste Management will drive a truck down, load the stuff up and haul it away for free. Most of the machines that they toss are probably worth $300-400 on eBay or Craigslist with just a fresh install done. And the worst part? I've offered to take it off their hands for them, and they say no

One would think that legislation encouraging efficient and thorough e-waste recycling would be able to pass Congress easily. On the one hand, you appeal to the Left with the environmental responsibility of more recycling. On the other hand, you appeal to the Right with reclaiming precious metals that go right back into the U.S. market and gives a bit more freedom from depending on China or other foreign sources for said industrially-applicable precious metals.

Of course, getting anything through this Congress these days seems near impossible.

For me personally, one of the largest hurdles to recyling my old electronic crap is cost...followed by recycling centers. I don't personally need to get paid for my junk, but I sure as shit don't want to be charged. Recycling these devices nets these companies gold, silver and other materials which they resale. Not charging me $50 to pick up some computers would mean that I would actually be willing to have them recycled.

Their is transportation costs, disassembly costs and finding a market for the recycled material. In Illinois their is very few recycling centers that actually take electronics. They take everything else but electronics.

You must live in a really bizarre area of Illinois. Everywhere I go here in the state are recycling centers offering huge cash incentives to recycle electronics now that Illinois has made throwing electronics into dumps illegal.

One of the biggest gold refineries around here gets about 2/3 of all it's gold from E-waste and they make "only" about 3 gold bars of 12,5kg/day... And it takes quite a bit e-waste for that 1ton of waste makes about 0,1kg of gold... plus they also gets out about 200kg copper and 0,5kg silver of that ton...

So money out of e-waste there is.... But the cost and possibility/ease of recycle the waste is probably quite high initially...But there's also the problem of throwing away working electronics, we just recycled 3 working "fat" TVs because it was to much hassle of getting them sold/given away and they took huge amount of storage space... We *should* have given/sold them instead because they were still in working condition but someone has to do it and there's no guarantee that someone would pick them up... and so on.. O well being lazy isn't always environment friendly... But we recycle more than most though so here's to hoping the recycled stuff *actually* gets recycled/used not dumped in a landfill..

Well, if Apple's iPad and iPhone are any indication, soon we will all have to let sophiscated recyclers recycle the valuable amount of metals contained in iPads and iPhones because they can't be disassembled in third world countries, thanks to copious amounts of glue and proprietary screws. So really, we would ironically have to thank Apple for making recycling a profitable business by having everything hard to disassemble, so that only modern recyclers w/ proper tools can recycle it.

Non-modern recyclers will just do what they do now and burn everything, then collect the metal bits.